Style Debate: Taking a dress shirt apart in the fitting room
Hey Joe,
Got a random question for you. Is it acceptable to take apart meticulously packaged dress shirts, with the pins and tissue paper and so on, in order to try them on? I’ve done it a few times but I feel guilty about it.
– Stuart
The Case Against Taking the Shirt Apart: The shirts that come packaged up like that are neck and sleeve measurement shirts. That’s sizing you need to know once you hit the door, so trying it on would be unnecessary. If you’re in shape, stick with slim fits. Pulling out all the pins, cardboard, tissue paper and other stuff does two things: It wastes time and it makes a mess for whoever has to clean up after you.
The Case For Taking the Shirt Apart: None of us should make any apologies for the antiquated way dress shirts are packaged. It’s ludicrous, and if retailers choose to continue to waste all that money on pins, cardboard, and paper, then they’ll just have to keep picking up the mess after I’m done trying it on. Not all slim-fit dress shirts fit as slim as others. Not all fabrics, cotton, non-iron, or blends feel the same. If it’s going to fit weird and feel scratchy, I want to know that NOW. Before the purchase. Not once it gets home. I once got the stink eye from a floor rep in the men’s section of a department store for taking in four meticulously packaged shirts, taking them apart to try them on, and then leaving without making a purchase. Sorry pal. It’s part of the process. They’re shirts. They’re not Johnny 5
.
Which side are you on? Have you worked in retail and got stuck reassembling the things? Leave your take below…
I always feel weird about that too and I feel like they should have some already disassembled shirts around for people to try on. Not only is it a pain in the ass to have to remove everything to try it on but I always feel awkward about what to do with the mess I’ve left behind. The other day I went to Express hoping to buy some 1MX shirts and after
trying 4 different sizes and fits none of them fit me right. Felt bad
for the employees who really gave me some excellent service and were
left to clean up my mess.
Interested in reading comments from people who have worked retail and see how they feel about it.
Fact is that it might be a pain, but it is part of the clerk’s job to reassemble the shirts, they do get paid to be there after all.
I definitely would say try it on. It’s hard to guess the fit if you’re trying on a certain style for the first time, and measurements, no matter how specific, will never tell you exactly how it feels. Even if you know the fit, one of the best things about dressing rooms is to see how certain colors match work with you and other articles of clothing. The “stick it up to your neck” option can only do so much.
If you want to be a good customer, just make sure not to leave the dressing room full of the excess garbage.
Exactly what Eric said!
All shirts look alike when they are pinned up and packaged. It’s well within reason to try a shirt on before you buy it.
I apologize if I don’t buy anything but don’t allow myself to feel bad. It’s a silly system in place
THANK YOU. I need to try on all of my shirts. “Slim fit” means just about anything these days.
I once had security sent after me because I had unwrapped a shirt from the package to try it on in the dressing room.
My argument? Look, I’m either going to buy it because it fits, or buy it, bring it home, and return it just as unpackaged if it doesn’t fit. It doesn’t change anything for you but saves me time.
I will check the sale rack to see if there are any of the same shirt that I can try on that is already unpackaged (my experience is the ones on sale are usually on a hanger) but if there isn’t, then I’d take it apart and try it on.
Try it on.
1. You are the customer and you deserve to buy a article that you know fits.
2. Its is more expensive for them to process the return or exchange than it is for them to repackage the shirt.
I always check, beforehand. There are several places where it isn’t kosher to unpackage the dress shirts. Most places like that will have signs but I ask the sales clerk, first.
What I hate is when you walk into a dressing room and the floor is covered with those little pins. This always seems to be the case at Macy’s. Combined with the fact that you’ve got to take your shoes off to try on pants, this can make for a very precarious fitting room experience.
at nordstroms the sales associate will take the shirt packaging apart for you
I take the shirts apart every time, and never feel an ounce of guilt 🙂
I’m a college student working PT in mens retail, and I can say I have a fiery passion for refolding shirts. Not so much because of the extra work ( which is a big pain considering how little I get paid ) but mostly because it is pretty much impossible to refold a shirt the way they do it in the factory.
It’s a quick way to make sure no one is ever going to buy a really nice shirt, because they usually look like garbage when their refolded by hand.
Only time the I will NOT disassemble a shirt and try it on is if I already own one or more of the exact same shirts and am just picking one up in a different color or pattern. Otherwise, you just cannot rely on a description of slim, fitted, or traditional to know how the shirt will fit, and even neck and sleeve measurements can vary between brands.
Disassemble it. If I can’t try it on, I’m not going to buy it. I don’t particularly enjoy creating work for someone, but if I end up having to return it, I’ll be wasting my time and money and someone will end up having to refold it anyway.
i’d usually look around to see if there’s a shirt by the same maker of the same cut, even if its a different pattern (most retailers tend to have one shirt of each size available). If i like the fit, i’ll either buy the pattern i want or sometimes take apart the shirt i like to see if the pattern suits me.
I have taken them apart, because like you said not all slim fits are created equal.
Love the Short Circuit reference!
When I had to do that, getting paid minimum wage at Express was not fun. However, when guys took shirt apart but showed at least a little remorse (you know, realizing that I am a fellow human being), I’d encourage them to not worry about it and try it on, unless you already have it, you need to know how it fits. We do what we gotta do for a job, but if you treat people like people, it’s not as crappy.
Having worked in retail, I will tell you putting those shirts back together is a PAIN IN THE (you know where)
You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. I would not have minded if you messed up my 1MX shirt wall.
I always ask the sales associate if they have any unpackaged. If not, they will often unpack one for me. It’s simple and leaves me with no guilt.
Smart. Never thought of that…
At my Express they have a closet with every shirt size and fit on hangers so you can try that one without pulling them off the wall.
I kinda feel bad, but that’s what retailers get when a number on the tag means nothing.
One 15 neck fits entirely diffently than another 15 neck, or the shoulders are off.. too many variables to just trust the retailer anymore; it’s sad.
Sorry about the pins, but I’ll try it on every time.
Similar thing at mine. They’ve got two racks with all the fits and sizes in front of the 1MX wall. Seems like an easy enough thing for these stores to do, though maybe some are more cramped for space than the one I go to.
No, I put garbage in the trash can, because it is his job to empty it; throwing it on the ground is disrespectful to everyone. When I try on a shirt, I at least take the packaging to a clerk afterwards, or place it in an orderly manner in the fitting room if they are too busy to talk to rather than leave it on the floor. Some stores have small trays in their fitting rooms to place the pins and such, that should happen more often, as well has having a bin to put the paper and cardboard. But I don’t feel sorry that someone gets paid to put it back together. There are a lot worse jobs in the world.
I typically feel bad about it, but there is no way I’m buying a shirt I haven’t tried on. Even if they are the same style/fit/brand, I can remember a few times where I bought a duplicate of something and had it fit differently.
I was shopping for shirts at target and the lady at the dressing room desk made a face at my handful of 4 shirts and said patronizingly, “We don’t take all the shirts apart, here. Just one or two.” I smiled at her and tried on every shirt I had a reason to, wondering why she thought I would care that target employees didn’t take shirts apart. Careful with your pronouns, people!
I currently work in retail and honestly, I encourage people to try the shirts on. I just wish that they would be kind enough to hand their unwanted items to me afterwards or at least the cardboard and pins. What I really hate is when people go and pick out different sizes of the same shirt to try on, without consulting me on what their size is. I once had a pair of brothers try on four different sizes each without asking me to measure them. I asked them if I could help them repeatedly and they said no. I would expect that most if not all dappered readers know their size but this is not true for a majority of my customers.
I went into Men’s Warehouse when they were having a sale and found 4 different shirts in my size. I asked if I could try them on and the sales guy looked at me funny and said that they don’t allow it. I asked why not and he said if you know your size you shouldn’t need to do that. I looked at him funny and went ahead and did it and ended up buying the two shirts that I actually tried on and put the other two still in the packaging back on the shelf. No idea why people would ever buy something from the store without trying it on first.
I concede the janitor point to you, emptying trash is a much better parallel than mine. And with more information that you give the packaging back to the sales associate puts the first comment in a whole new light.
There have been countless times that I opened a dressing room door to find everything on the floor, not even on the chair/stool. Those are the people that don’t give a second thought, and it happened/happens very often. Even if people left a pile on a chair, I didn’t mind, at least it’s off the floor.
And yes, I agree that there are plenty of worse jobs. For many, it’s just a job during college. Re-packaging shirts is an easy task, once you get good at it, like I did. No one should feel bad about trying it on, just be a little respectful. Handing it to a clerk is above and beyond what I’d expect, but just leaving it on the chair is a reasonable compromise for both parties.
I try it on and don’t feel at all guilty for doing it. If they are going to keep packaging shirts like that then I’m sure they’re used to it.
If I can’t try it on, I don’t buy it. Unless all shirt makers worldwide give the same precise, exact measurements when sizing you have to try it on. I’ve even had 2 shirts from Brooks Brothers that were the same size, same style, and fit slightly differently.
From a business standpoint, reducing sales is almost always more expensive than what you can save through nearly any cost cutting measure. Stores should be putting every effort into getting people to try their stuff on, as there’s a strong correlation between how much customers can try and feel things with how much they like them (and eventually buy). Along these lines, they should be eliminating packaging that might make a customer hesitant to really look at something, and certainly not raising a fuss if rip things out of the packaging in stores.
I’d also wager the increase in sales (and reduction in staff workload) would vastly offset the loss in merchandise display if they just hung the damn shirts up like most clothing. Not to mention they’d look way nicer without the wrinkles from being folded up.
So, here are some concrete solutions:
1. Shirtmakers should stop packaging their shirts so ridiculously. It doesn’t look that much better folded into a perfect square than it does on a hanger.
2. Since No. 1 isn’t happening any time soon, stores should have samples in all fits and sizes readily available and obvious to customers.
3. Stores should put pincushions in dressing rooms.
4. Someone should invent some kind of device that enables the average retail worker to quickly and efficiently refold unpackaged shirts.
As someone who has worked part time in retail for almost 10 years now: take it apart. You have to try it on, right? So take it apart. But walk a respectful middle ground. Just because you’ve pullthe pins and cardboard out, doesn’t mean you should litter it all over the fitting room like a toddler does the toilet roll in the john. try to keep it all together for whomever will be cleaning up the room when you finish. And if you have more than one of the same fit shirt, you don’t really have to try them all on to see how each different color fits.
#4 exists. It’s called training. i can refold an unpackaged shirt in about 32 seconds most of the time.
I doubt BenR meant training when he said, “device”.
They don’t allow it? That’s. That’s something. I would have walked out. You’re a much more patient person than I am.
Ive always wondered this – I always feel bad
Mostly I just hate that packaging style, it is rather pointless, the best is the stores that just put the shirts on hangers without all that.
Yeah, I love this. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do it. (Well, a department store couldn’t do it, obviously.)
Know how trumps “device” in nearly any instance.
I had the same experience at Target, I wanted to try on one of their dress shirts and they wouldn’t let me take it into the fitting room.
I think shirtmakers should stop using pins altogether. Use clips the way some shirtmakers do — the shirt looks essentially the same on the display, and they’re much easier to refold and safer for the customer.
Can’t count how many times I’ve missed a pin within the shirt and stuck myself trying it on.
I’m not the most entitled customer out there. But I think purchasing something that caught my eye, and taking it home to try it on, only to find out it doesn’t fit right and go out of my way to take it all the way back to the store, just so I don’t inconvenience the floor clerk right then and there is a bit much to ask. You have a job, some things suck, but that’s part of your duties. I get paid to do things I don’t like too.
I typically ask if it’s OK to try on the shirts, and haven’t been denied yet. I feel this is a common courtesy that will relieve you of any guilt from taking a shirt packaging apart.
#2, the Express store I used to shop at had a rack of 1MX shirts in white in all sizes and fits available to use to try on for the fit or just to use under a suit. I’m not sure if this is standard but I’d ask.